Ethnic composition
Which ethnicity residents of Lithuania record for themselves, as a share of the population.
The published series begins in 1979; there is no earlier data here, and the years before it are not part of it.
Census years are drawn as separate points and deliberately not joined by a line. A census is a full enumeration and they stand a decade or more apart; a line between 1989 and 2001 would draw twelve years that were never measured. Only the annual estimates from 2022, which are consecutive, are joined.
Milestones
| What | Period | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | 2022 | 85.1 % |
| Lowest | 1989 | 79.6 % |
| Latest | 2026 | 82.1 % |
Every other group
Composition in one year
Every group, every year published
| Group |
1979
census |
1989
census |
2001
census |
2011
census |
2021
census |
2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithuanians |
80.0 % 2,712,233 |
79.6 % 2,924,251 |
83.5 % 2,907,293 |
84.1 % 2,561,314 |
84.6 % 2,378,118 |
85.1 % 2,389,783 |
83.6 % 2,389,593 |
82.6 % 2,382,530 |
82.3 % 2,377,828 |
82.1 % 2,371,497 |
| Poles |
7.3 % 247,022 |
7.0 % 257,994 |
6.7 % 234,989 |
6.6 % 200,317 |
6.5 % 183,421 |
6.6 % 184,298 |
6.4 % 182,474 |
6.3 % 181,912 |
6.2 % 180,403 |
6.2 % 178,828 |
| Russians |
8.9 % 303,493 |
9.4 % 344,455 |
6.3 % 219,789 |
5.8 % 176,913 |
5.0 % 141,122 |
5.1 % 142,695 |
5.1 % 144,826 |
5.0 % 145,560 |
5.0 % 144,355 |
4.9 % 141,866 |
| Belarusians |
1.7 % 57,584 |
1.7 % 63,169 |
1.2 % 42,866 |
1.2 % 36,227 |
1.0 % 28,183 |
1.0 % 29,044 |
1.7 % 48,950 |
2.1 % 60,396 |
2.1 % 61,281 |
2.0 % 57,608 |
| Ukrainians |
1.0 % 31,982 |
1.2 % 44,789 |
0.7 % 22,488 |
0.5 % 16,423 |
0.5 % 14,168 |
0.5 % 14,474 |
1.6 % 46,573 |
1.7 % 49,725 |
2.2 % 63,885 |
2.3 % 65,603 |
| Jews |
0.4 % 14,697 |
0.3 % 12,392 |
0.1 % 4,007 |
0.1 % 3,050 |
0.1 % 2,256 |
0.1 % 2,287 |
0.1 % 2,245 |
0.1 % 2,199 |
0.1 % 2,146 |
0.1 % 2,124 |
| Tatars |
0.1 % 4,006 |
0.1 % 5,183 |
0.1 % 3,235 |
0.1 % 2,793 |
0.1 % 2,142 |
0.1 % 2,185 |
0.1 % 2,188 |
0.1 % 2,133 |
0.1 % 2,116 |
0.1 % 2,089 |
| Latvians |
0.1 % 4,354 |
0.1 % 4,229 |
0.1 % 2,955 |
0.1 % 2,025 |
0.1 % 1,572 |
0.1 % 1,565 |
0.1 % 1,962 |
0.1 % 2,070 |
0.1 % 2,277 |
0.1 % 2,414 |
| Germans |
0.1 % 2,616 |
0.1 % 2,058 |
0.1 % 3,243 |
0.1 % 2,418 |
0.1 % 1,977 |
0.1 % 1,985 |
0.1 % 2,076 |
0.1 % 2,365 |
0.1 % 2,473 |
0.1 % 2,565 |
| Roma |
0.1 % 2,306 |
0.1 % 2,718 |
0.1 % 2,571 |
0.1 % 2,115 |
0.1 % 2,251 |
0.1 % 2,427 |
0.1 % 2,410 |
0.1 % 2,489 |
0.1 % 2,521 |
0.1 % 2,579 |
| Other |
0.3 % 11,197 |
0.4 % 13,564 |
0.2 % 7,615 |
0.2 % 6,856 |
0.2 % 5,918 |
0.2 % 6,075 |
0.5 % 16,164 |
1.3 % 36,333 |
1.7 % 50,185 |
2.1 % 59,267 |
| Not indicated | — | — |
0.9 % 32,921 |
1.1 % 32,978 |
1.7 % 49,633 |
1.0 % 29,180 |
0.6 % 17,818 |
0.6 % 18,179 |
0.0 % 1,194 |
0.0 % 1,152 |
The head counts are Statistics Lithuania’s own published figures, not shares multiplied by the population. The two series reconcile: in 2021 the twelve groups sum exactly to the 2 810 761 residents counted, and 2 378 118 of 2 810 761 is the 84,6 % shown beside it.
Method and caveats
Ethnicity here is SELF-DECLARED: it is what a person recorded about themselves, not a classification applied to them, and "not indicated" is one of the answers. Every category Statistics Lithuania publishes is shown, at the one decimal it publishes them to; none is merged into another or left out. Shares are all this cut has — the statistical service publishes no head counts for it, and the site does not multiply a rounded percentage by the population to invent them, because a group given as 0,1 % could be anywhere from 0,05 % to 0,15 % and the resulting "count" would be wrong by a factor of three. The figures for 1979 and 1989 are Soviet-era censuses, taken under a different state with different methods. The site reports what was published and draws no conclusion from it.